Google announced today they’re launching a public DNS resolver. Nice idea, serving the Internet in general, providing a service apparently secure from DNS hacks and vulnerabilities. They picked a winner of an IP address(es) for it, too: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (even easier than Verizon’s 4.2.2.2).
I get why this is a good idea:
Centralized security – only one “system” to have to query blackhole lists, and a whole load of resources to keep on top of keeping blackhole lists updated.
Less headaches – your internal servers can use Google’s servers as a DNS and hey, presto, you don’t have to manage an external resolver. Admittedly, there’s not a lot of headache there, but it’s something.
But one thing is nagging at me (other than Mrs. Jupiter):
Why? Why is Google bothering with this?
I get the uneasy feeling this might be a philanthropic start to something that goes against their mantra of “don’t be evil”.
First: They’re not redirecting requests for non-existent domains to another page (like many ISPs, including Comcast), so they’re not getting more hits to their advertising. … Really?
B: They’re collecting data but they say they will be sharing it. … All of it?
3: They’re going to collect ISP and Location data to make their service better. … How?
And finally: They’ve developed their own DNS server. … Why?
I’m suspicious. Not the black helicopters, Ruskies in the bushes, tinfoil hat wearing kind of suspicious, but I would guess that Google is going to use this feature to drive traffic to it’s own search results based on typo’ed domain names, thereby increasing the exposure of it’s pay-per-click advertising, and sell listings based on specific “keywords” associated with domain typos to localized businesses. Here’s an example:
You type in expedi.acom. Instead of answering with an NXDOMAIN record, the engine realizes that’s a typo’ed request for a travel agency web site and it redirects the query to a google search results page with the typical google paid-ad-above-freebies layout containing the results for a travel agency search. The paid ads are from advertisers that have opted to have their results displayed to dns typos in a specific location.
If they can do that, they may just have monetized typo-squatting without the bother of having to purchase a bunch of typo’ed domain names. Impressive.
Or:
Their long range plan is to introduce a new record type. A “G” record, which will contain addresses of other sites just like the one you’ve requested. It’ll be used in the ChromeOS DNS client and Chrome browser to suggest other sites like the one you’re accessing, that pops up just as soon as you finish typing a domain name. Instant exposure to their paid ads based on a valid DNS response, thereby piggybacking monetized search results on the existing DNS system. Also impressive.
So whaddya think:
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